Regeneration marks the seventh studio album from The Divine Comedy. Released in 2001, this album marks a slight change in direction for the Neil Hannon fronted band. The change in direction should not be frowned upon however. Yes, the large string sections that we have come to know and love in the previous Divine Comedy offerings is limited, with the band opting for a more alternative rock sound, laden with acoustic guitars, but where the strings are lacking, there is plenty to make up for it. Single "Bad Ambassador" successfully manages to combine the trademark Divine Comedy sweeping strings with this rock sound, thus making it one of the standout ...  Read the complete review

Regeneration sees the return of the Divine Comedy, this time on the Parlophone label following their big money move from indie label Setanta. The move also sees them taking a new musical direction – a more sedate, introspective approach as opposed to the “nudge, nudge, wink, wink” jolly outings of National Express and Something for the Weekend. This was completely unexpected as I expected them to lose part of who they where by going to a big label, who would stifle them a bit, but they go completely against this by releasing their least commercial album to date. The whole album has a more relaxed, gentle feel, the lyrics aren’t full of clever ...  Read the complete review

The Divine Comedy are accused of many things - being too pretentious or conversely, too light-hearted, too cheesy, too amusing, too depressing, for using too many orchestral sounds or just for being plain weird. These have all combined in the past to make The Divine Comedy an acquired taste, one for those people who know about the construction of music and its complexities. But, a lot has been spoken about this new album and how it removes many of those misgivings held by those who haven't been caught up in their previous work. However, I don't particularly care what people have to say about that because I believe this is a beautiful album, with a ...  Read the complete review

For this, the Divine Comedy's seventh album, Neil Hannon has moved away from the opulence of 'Fin de Siecle' and 'Casanova', in favour of a more Radiohead-inspired sound. Instead of vast orchestrations, we now have guitar solos and what occasionally can be recognised as a 'rock song'. For all that, it is as quintessentially Divine Comedy as any of their other albums. The first track, 'Timestretched', is an amusing little doodle on the nature of fame, a subject that would appear to need a slightly more in-depth examination, which comes next, on the mighty 'Bad Ambassador', which features the immortal lyric 'I'm not ...  Read the complete review

Oh. Oh, what a shame. You see, the thing is, I think Fin de Siecle is the finest album that Neil Hannon's done. Yes, some of the tracks are easily skippable. But I got interested in the Divine Comedy by hearing "Commuter Love", a chilling track about a commuter's infatuation with a fellow commuter. And I heard this on a sampler CD on a packet of cereal. So I went out to buy the album. I was really excited about Regeneration. A new record deal; loads of pre-promotion - I went out to get the album after I got the free CD in The Independent on Sunday. And I don't like it much. The lush orchestration (Eric ...  Read the complete review